Common Bacterial Pathogens and their Antimicrobial Susceptibility
in a Tertiary Hospital in the Philippines

Indiscriminate or extensive use of broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents has largely contributed to the spontaneous development of resistance of bacterial pathogens to antibiotics. Hence, there is a need to determine the prevalent pathogenic microorganisms and their antimicrobial susceptibility in hospitals.

The general objective of the study is to determine the commonly-occurring bacterial pathogens in a hospital and to identify the susceptibility of these to antimicrobial agents. Specific objectives include: (1) to determine the occurrences of these pathogens in terms of body site (from which the organism was isolated) and clinical and special areas in the hospital; (2) to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of these bacterial pathogens; and (3) to illustrate the trend of antimicrobial susceptibility of these pathogens to antimicrobial agents for a three year period (2012-2014).

A quantitative, descriptive study was conducted to determine the frequency distribution of the bacterial pathogens for the year 2014 and identify their susceptibility patterns to antimicrobials over a three-year period (2012-2014). The research investigators reviewed laboratory records of different types of specimens from all inpatient and outpatient subjects that were submitted to the Philippine Orthopedic Center Laboratory Department (POCLD) for culture and sensitivity testing daily from January 2012-December 2014. The data were then collated and tabulated for statistical analysis using Epi InfoTM version 7. The research study underwent a technical review by the POC Research Committee (POCRC) and an ethical review by the POC Ethics Review Board (POCERB).